Two Days of Heaven
by Starsinger
Summary: Rick and Lisa spend some quiet time after the Malcontent Uprisings


**Two Days of Heaven**

by Starsinger

**Yeah, like this one too. Don't own them.**

"I'm going down to planetside," Lisa announced to Colonel Maistroff and Commander Breetai. "I want to see Rick for Valentine's Day." They watched credulously as she strode out of the room. She still found herself pulling self-consciously on the harness of the new uniform she wore. It somehow covered everything, yet still left little to the imagination.

"I understand you're going to Earth," a voice sounded behind her as she headed for her quarters. She turned to find Jean and Vince Grant following her, "Mind if we join you? Thought we'd meet up with Miriya while we're down there."

"That sounds great," Lisa replied. Jean looked at her friend with concern. She sounded tired and…lonely. It had been a year and a half since she'd seen Rick and frustration seemed to roll off Lisa in waves. Jean followed Lisa into her quarters as the other woman pulled the harness off her uniform and started rummaging through her closet. Jean heard growls of frustration issuing from the other room. "I just can't find something to wear. Everything is just, oh, I don't know, dowdy."

Jean stifled another laugh as she went into help her friend. Unfortunately, Lisa was right, there were three pairs of pants, one pair of jeans, two skirts, five blouses, two tank tops, and six pairs of sneakers, this didn't include her uniforms, which managed to outnumber her civvies. Jean tossed a tank top and jeans at Lisa and announced, "We'll get something dirtside." She left Lisa sputtering in indignation, but she also heard the sound of a zipper as she pulled her uniform off to change. Jean raised an eyebrow as she saw Lisa had grabbed a sweater and pulled it on over her top.

Several crew joined them on the shuttle as Vince, Lisa and Jean took their seats. Exedore turned up and sat with them. "I would like to observe this Earth custom called 'Valentine's Day' more closely," the three humans hid smiles behind their hands. The rocky entrance into the Earth's atmosphere caused them all to look out the window. Exedore prattled on about flowers and candy as Lisa stared out the window. Her heartbeat quickened as they touched down and made their way to the shopping district of Monument City. Vince immediately excused himself when they ran across Max and Miriya, leaving the women to their tasks.

The first boutique was hostile to them. They held the Zentraedi in contempt due to the recent Malcontent trouble. Even though it had recently ended, hostility toward the aliens was still rampant. The second store's staff recognized Lisa immediately, and their attitudes gave them all a headache. The third store had a friendly staff who tried to help them. Lisa was of average build, not voluptuous but certainly not flat, and at a tad under 5'8" she and Rick were of a similar height. She should've found something fairly quickly among the dresses.

All this desultory activity was interrupted by the entrance one Lynn Minmei. She had seen Lisa's plight, and being a fashion plate every time she stepped out of her home, decided to take matters into her own hands. Upon hearing what they were looking for, Minmei promptly started rummaging through the racks with the help of her new partner Janice Em. Minmei pulled out a wide selection of sundresses while Janice pulled out pumps and strappy heels of every variety known to woman kind.

Lisa, for her part, tried on all kinds of dresses. Dresses with halter tops, spaghetti straps, and strapless, they also had short skirts, long skirts, knee length skirts and skirts that would have shown off the bottom of her bum. She put an immediate stop to that. They finally settled on a little blue halter top dress with a knee length skirt. This one pulled her cleavage up to an impressive mound. A pair of blue pumps complimented the dress. A yellow strapless knee length dress was selected for the next day. This one was designed for, in Minmei's words, "Ease of disuse." Rick could get off quickly without much delay. A pair of white flats were found to go along with it. Janice and Minmei settled Lisa into nearby café while Miriya and Jean went looking for the boys. "With that body and those legs," Minmei whispered to Janice, "She'll have Rick begging in no time."

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rick's day started out normally. He woke up and thought about what he was going to do. He had taken the day off and didn't have a clue as to what to do. He thought about calling Lisa as he made coffee and padded around the house in his socks. He looked at the phone for a few seconds before it started ringing. He grabbed it wondering if his girlfriend had suddenly become psychic and was only slightly disappointed to find Max on the other end. "Hey Rick," came the voice of his friend. "Doing anything today?"

Rick walked over to his wardrobe considering his choice of every day wear. Like Lisa's wardrobe, most of it consisted of uniforms. "No, not really," he replied. He pulled out a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. "What have you got in mind?"

"Vince and Jean came down from the Satellite, he was thinking about a guy's day out while the girl's went shopping."

Rick unsuccessfully suppressed a sigh of envy, "Sure, Max, where do you want to meet?"

An hour later they rendezvoused in downtown Monument City. It really was great to see Vince again, and Miriya and Jean were nowhere to be seen. Max shrugged, as if saying, "What did you expect?" They wandered around downtown talking and laughing and otherwise trying to relax. Just afternoon they rounded a corner and saw Jean and Miriya and Minmei and Janice going in different directions. Rick stood, almost rooted to the sidewalk, looking at a woman sitting at one of the tables. They realized with smiles that they had suddenly become superfluous to the day and patted Rick on the back before following their wives in the general direction they had disappeared.

Lisa sat at the table nervously fidgeting with her napkin as she waited for Max and Vince to deliver Rick to the café. Suddenly, she felt arms around her waist as she was pulled to her feet and kissed. Her eyes flew open and reflexively her arms came up to push the man away when she realized who it was. Her arms suddenly wound themselves around his neck as she relaxed into the kiss. "Hey," she said softly as the kiss ended, "Happy Valentine's Day."

Rick liked the fact that they were the same height. It put her waist and bum at perfect height for his arms and hands. She playfully gave his hands a light slap as she moved them up to her waist. He laughed as he let her go and sat down in the chair across from her. "How did you?" he asked.

She smirked, "I just announced that I was taking the next shuttle planetside. There really wasn't a lot they could do after that."

Rick laughed and lifted her hand to his lips, "Not a lot."

They ate lunch together and walked aimlessly. Not really talking but taking in each others presence. They wandered until they found themselves at his home. He smiled ruefully as he opened the door and they entered. He poured them drinks and they sat comfortably on the couch the rest of the afternoon curled up together on the couch together watching television and talking idly of the past year and a half. Rick laughed as he heard what Exedore had planned for the next day. The phone soon rang and Rick reached over to answer it. He laughed as Max invited them over for dinner. Lisa sighed as she pushed her feet back into her shoes and the walked the five doors down to Max and Miriya's home. Dana and Bowie were running around excitedly in their pajamas. It seemed they were playing their own version of freeze tag.

Uniforms seemed to have been banished as everyone was in civvies. Max was in the kitchen cooking. Miriya handed Lisa the bag with her other apparel inside. Rick tried to peek into the bag, but Lisa smiled and whispered into his ear. The smile that crossed his face made the rest of the room nod in satisfaction. Nothing heavy was discussed that night, and at the end of the night, Max pressed something small into Rick's hand as Lisa raised her own eyebrow. "Later," he murmured to her.

The Sterling's bade their guests good night. Rick woke to the delight feeling of Lisa curled up next to him. Early morning light shone through the window as he watched her sleeping in his arms. He gently extracted himself from the bed and went to the bathroom. He had plans for their day and needed to go about them quietly, before she awoke. When she did he delivered: breakfast in bed. She smiled in delight as she sat up. Bacon, eggs, cereal, and orange juice seemed to be the order of the morning. He sat Indian style beside her, eating from his own tray. The devilish grin on his face told everything and revealed nothing.

They dressed as casually as they had the day before and about noon grabbed the picnic basket and headed for the car. They spent the afternoon walking along the beach as they looked for just the right spot to have a picnic. The sun was low on the horizon as Rick spread the blanket out for them to sit on. He settled her on the blanket and unpacked their dinner. Wine complimented the sandwiches and salad that accompanied them on the trip. As the sun touched the horizon in a blaze of multi-colored glory, Rick began his little speech, "Lisa, I love you. You have become so much a part of my life in spite of the long-distance relationship." He finished fishing around in picnic basket and pulled out a box. When it opened it contained a ring with a single solitaire diamond in a platinum band, her hands flew to her face, "Will you marry me?"

Lisa nodded her head, unable to speak. Rick slipped the ring onto her finger and drew her in for a kiss. "I love you, Rick," she whispered.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Lisa, Jean, Vince and Exedore waited on the shuttle to take them back to the station. Lisa wore blue jeans and one of Rick's shirts that she had managed to sneak out of his closet that morning. Jean and Miriya both laughed and admired the ring. Exedore extolled the virtues of Valentine's Day as he had observed it. It took him three hours to notice the ring.

**Happy Valentine's Day!**


End file.
